See also

Relative octave entry

Absolute octave entry requires specifying the octave for every
single note. Relative octave entry, in contrast, specifies each
octave in relation to the last note: changing one note’s octave
will affect all of the following notes.

Relative note mode has to be entered explicitly using the
\relative command:

\relative startpitchmusicexpr

In relative mode, each note is assumed to be as close to the
previous note as possible. This means that the octave of each
pitch inside musicexpr is calculated as follows:

If no octave changing mark is used on a pitch, its octave is
calculated so that the interval with the previous note is less
than a fifth. This interval is determined without considering
accidentals.

An octave changing mark ' or , can be
added to respectively raise or lower a pitch by an extra octave,
relative to the pitch calculated without an octave mark.

Multiple octave changing marks can be used. For example,
'' and ,, will alter the pitch by two
octaves.

The pitch of the first note is relative to
startpitch. startpitch is specified in
absolute octave mode. Which choices are meaningful?

Writing \relative gis''' { gis … } makes it easy to
determine the absolute pitch of the first note inside.

no explicit starting pitch

This (namely writing \relative { gis''' … }) can be
viewed as a compact version of the previous option: the first note
inside is written in absolute pitch itself. This happens to be
equivalent to choosing f as the reference pitch.

The documentation will usually employ the first option.

Here is the relative mode shown in action:

\relative c {
\clef bass
c d e f
g a b c
d e f g
}

Octave changing marks are used for intervals greater than a
fourth:

\relative c'' {
c g c f,
c' a, e'' c
}

A note sequence without a single octave mark can nevertheless span
large intervals:

\relative c {
c f b e
a d g c
}

When \relative blocks are nested, the innermost
\relative block applies.

\relative c' {
c d e f
\relative c'' {
c d e f
}
}

\relative has no effect on \chordmode blocks.

\new Staff {
\relative c''' {
\chordmode { c1 }
}
\chordmode { c1 }
}

\relative is not allowed inside of \chordmode blocks.

Music inside a \transpose block is absolute unless a
\relative is included.

\relative c' {
d e
\transpose f g {
d e
\relative c' {
d e
}
}
}

If the preceding item is a chord, the first note of the chord is
used as the reference point for the octave placement of a
following note or chord. Inside chords, the next note is always
relative to the preceding one. Examine the next example
carefully, paying attention to the c notes.

\relative c' {
c
<c e g>
<c' e g'>
<c, e, g''>
}

As explained above, the octave of pitches is calculated only with
the note names, regardless of any alterations. Therefore, an
E-double-sharp following a B will be placed higher, while an
F-double-flat will be placed lower. In other words, a
double-augmented fourth is considered a smaller interval than a
double-diminished fifth, regardless of the number of semitones
that each interval contains.

\relative c'' {
c2 fis
c2 ges
b2 eisis
b2 feses
}

One consequence of these rules is that the first note inside
\relative f music is interpreted just the same as
if it was written in absolute pitch mode.

Accidentals

Note: New users are sometimes confused about accidentals and
key signatures. In LilyPond, note names specify pitches; key
signatures and clefs determine how these pitches are displayed.
An unaltered note like c means ‘C natural’,
regardless of the key signature or clef. For more information,
see Pitches and key signatures.

A sharp pitch is made by adding is to the note
name, and a flat pitch by adding es. As you
might expect, a double sharp or double flat
is made by adding isis or eses. This syntax is
derived from Dutch note naming conventions. To use other names
for accidentals, see Note names in other languages.

ais1 aes aisis aeses

A natural pitch is entered as a simple note name; no suffix is
required. A natural sign will be printed when needed to cancel
the effect of an earlier accidental or key signature.

a4 aes a2

Quarter tones may be added; the following is a series of Cs with
increasing pitches:

ceseh1 ces ceh c cih cis cisih

Normally accidentals are printed automatically, but you may also
print them manually. A reminder accidental can be forced by
adding an exclamation mark ! after the pitch. A
cautionary accidental (i.e., an accidental within parentheses) can
be obtained by adding the question mark ? after the
pitch.

cis cis cis! cis? c c c! c?

Accidentals on tied notes are only printed at the beginning of a
new system:

cis1~ 1~
\break
cis

Selected Snippets

Hiding accidentals on tied notes at the start of a new system

This shows how to hide accidentals on tied notes at the start of a new
system.

In accordance with traditional typesetting rules, a natural sign is
printed before a sharp or flat if a previous double sharp or flat on
the same note is canceled. To change this behavior to contemporary
practice, set the extraNatural property to f in the
Staff context.

Note names in other languages

There are predefined sets of note and accidental names for various
other languages. Selecting the note name language is usually done
at the beginning of the file; the following example is written
using Italian note names:

\language "italiano"
\relative do' {
do re mi sib
}

The available languages and the note names they define are:

Language

Note Names

nederlands

c d e f g a bes b

catalan

do re mi fa sol la sib si

deutsch

c d e f g a b h

english

c d e f g a bf b

espanol or español

do re mi fa sol la sib si

italiano or français

do re mi fa sol la sib si

norsk

c d e f g a b h

portugues

do re mi fa sol la sib si

suomi

c d e f g a b h

svenska

c d e f g a b h

vlaams

do re mi fa sol la sib si

In addition to note names, accidental suffixes may
also vary depending on the language:

Language

sharp

flat

double sharp

double flat

nederlands

-is

-es

-isis

-eses

catalan

-d/-s

-b

-dd/-ss

-bb

deutsch

-is

-es

-isis

-eses

english

-s/–sharp

-f/–flat

-ss/-x/–sharpsharp

-ff/–flatflat

espanol or español

-s

-b

-ss/-x

-bb

italiano or français

-d

-b

-dd

-bb

norsk

-iss/-is

-ess/-es

-ississ/-isis

-essess/-eses

portugues

-s

-b

-ss

-bb

suomi

-is

-es

-isis

-eses

svenska

-iss

-ess

-ississ

-essess

vlaams

-k

-b

-kk

-bb

In Dutch, aes is contracted to as, but both forms
are accepted in LilyPond. Similarly, both es and
ees are accepted. This also applies to
aeses / ases and
eeses / eses. Sometimes only these
contracted names are defined in the corresponding language files.

a2 as e es a ases e eses

Some music uses microtones whose alterations are fractions of a
‘normal’ sharp or flat. The following table lists note names
for quarter-tone accidentals in various languages; here the prefixes
semi- and sesqui- respectively
mean ‘half’ and ‘one and a half’. Languages that do not
appear in this table do not provide special note names yet.

Language

semi-sharp

semi-flat

sesqui-sharp

sesqui-flat

nederlands

-ih

-eh

-isih

-eseh

deutsch

-ih

-eh

-isih

-eseh

english

-qs

-qf

-tqs

-tqf

espanol or español

-cs

-cb

-tcs

-tcb

italiano or français

-sd

-sb

-dsd

-bsb

portugues

-sqt

-bqt

-stqt

-btqt

Most languages presented here are commonly associated with
Western classical music, also referred to as
Common Practice Period. However, alternate
pitches and tuning systems are also supported: see
Common notation for non-Western music.